Bangkok, Singapore, Tokyo - top three Asia-Pacific destinations

Singapore (VNA) - Bangkok, Singapore and Tokyo have been ranked as the top three most popular destinations in Asia-Pacific for international tourists, according to the results of the inaugural MasterCard Asia-Pacific Destinations Index released on January 27.

The index polls 167 destinations, including island resorts as well as towns and cities across the region, by the total number of international overnight arrivals, cross-border spending, and the total number of nights spent at each destination.

Thailand's capital city Bangkok topped the survey, with international overnight visitors breaking the 20 million mark for the first time last year. It is followed by Singapore and Tokyo which both welcomed 11.8 million tourists last year.

Thailand was further represented with Phuket securing fifth place, and the coastal city of Pattaya coming in eighth in the top 10 destinations.

Of the top 20 destinations by total expenditure per day, Shanghai welcomed the biggest spenders with 269 USD spent daily, followed by Beijing, Seoul, Singapore and Hong Kong.

However, in terms of total expenditure by international tourists, Bangkok again seized number one with 15.2 billion USD spent last year.

According to the "Travel and Tourism Economic Impact 2014 – Asia-Pacific" report by the World Tourism and Travel Council, Asia Pacific's tourism industry is the largest in the world in terms of the total contribution to GDP, having overtaken Europe in 2014. Tourism contributed 2.27 trillion USD to Asia-Pacific economies and 153.7 million jobs in 2015.-VNA